Springdale woman struck and killed in downtown accident

Updated 6:43 pm, Monday, July 21, 2014

Pedestrians walk across Hoyt Street watching emergency personnel at the scene where Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Pedestrians walk across Hoyt Street watching emergency personnel at the scene where Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

A woman speaks to the police at the scene where Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

A woman speaks to the police at the scene where Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn.

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Janice Pielert, 58, of Stamford, was struck and killed by an SUV driven by Natalie Gainer at the intersection of Hoyt and Summer streets in Stamford, Conn. around 12:45 p.m. Monday, July 21, 2014. Police said Pielert who was crossing Hoyt Street. The SUV was heading south on Summer Street and turning east on Hoyt Street when it hit the Pielert.

Police said Pielert was in the crosswalk when she was struck. It is not clear at this time if the pedestrian was walking with the cross signal or not, said Stamford police Lt. Sean Cooney.

Pielert was unconscious but alive when police and firefighters arrived, Wuennemann said. A large amount of blood could be seen under the car after the woman, who was found laying between the front and rear tires, was removed. Pielert was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Stamford Hospital.

Eyewitness Frannie Benson said she did not think Pielert was in the crosswalk when the accident happened.

Benson, 66, said she just left her doctor's office moments before and was the first in line at the stop light on Hoyt Street to cross Summer Street when the accident happened.

Benson, of Bridgeport, said she saw the woman step into the street about 20 or so feet away from where Summer Street intersects Hoyt. A second after seeing the woman cross in front of her she saw the Tahoe come around the corner on a collision course.

"I said to myself, `no, no, no, no, no.' She wouldn't have heard me because my window was up. The car ran right over her. The driver screamed her head off, but the lady (pedestrian) didn't say a word," Benson said. "It looked bad. I don't know if the lady is going to make it or not."

Benson said she did not know if the female pedestrian was crossing on the signal or not.

The female driver of the Tahoe, identified as Natalie Gainer, 49, of Norwalk, was extremely upset after striking the woman and she was taken to Stamford Hospital for observation. Cooney said accident investigators will present their findings to the Stamford State's Attorney's office to determine if charges should be filed against Gainer.

Police closed Hoyt Street next to the accident scene for several hours and restricted lanes on Summer Street to allow responding safety officers room to investigate the accident.

About an hour after the accident Maureen Namawerjee, 28, said she wasn't sure that she can trust the walk signals that give her the right to cross the street on foot because some drivers seem to pay so little attention to them.

"There have been a bunch of times when I wait for the signal and have the right to cross, but people make a left-hand turn in their cars like you are not even there. And then you have to step back and go, `are you for real?'"

Namawerje, who works in a building on Summer Street right next to the accident site said she works with a woman who will only run across the street, even when she has the signal to cross. "She doesn't think the people will stop for her," Namawerje said.

A 65-year-old Strawberry Hill Avenue man died of his injuries after being struck by a car on Strawberry Hill Avenue on May 30.

The man, a teacher named Carmine Passero, lived close to were he was struck and killed.

The driver of the car, Peter Parashkevov, 50, of 70 Strawberry Hill Ave., was pulling out of a driveway just after 9:30 a.m. at his apartment complex when he hit Passero with his 2013 Mercedes-Benz C300 sedan, police said. No charges have been filed in that case.